Leave it to the “Greatest Generation” to put a visual stamp on leadership.

Time is running out for World War II vets to visit their memorial in Washington; they don’t have time for the politicians to grow up, act like adults, and govern the nation in a responsible way. The shut down closed the World War II memorial. But you don’t say “no” to a generation that stormed beaches.

“This just means so much to me,” said Alex “Lou” Pitalo, an Army vet who also served in the Pacific during WWII, told Stars and Stripes. “I waited 70 years to get a welcome like this. And to get to see this and to have all those people clapping … I’m just so happy. This was amazing.”

No, sir. You’re amazing.

Update 4:16 p.m. — Leo Shane III, Washington Bureau reporter for Stars and Stripes, talked to Daily Circuit about the event. Leo has worked at Stars and Stripes since 2004, covering Capitol Hill and the White House. His beats include legislation affecting military policy and veterans issues. His work also includes overseas coverage of military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chile and Ecuador.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started the two most popular blogs in the history of MPR and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories but reflections , observations, and debate.

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Good for them. While I don’t ordinarily advocate knocking down barriers to Federal property, this is a special case. Anyone who rode an LST, served as a ball turret gunner, or even drove a typewriter at Fort Ord showed service to this nation of far greater stature than those who have forced this government shutdown.

They should move on the Capitol next.

Gayle

A few years ago I had the honor of
being a support escort for a group of about 50 WW II vets that were on a tour. At least
half of these vets were in wheelchairs. The tour company allowed 1 hour
to visit a national monument. The uniformed federal monument guards insisted
that they needed to check each vet before allowing entry – including removal of
shoes and belts. I explained that by the time they were done inspecting
even a handful of these men for entry, their bus would be leaving. As I
was talking to the guard and his boss, the vets “stormed the beach” –
their act of civil disobedience was one of the highlights of the trip.
Their need to was one of the lowlights.

Moffitt

I can’t help but think of how D.C. treated the “Bonus Army” veteran protest in 1932. I killed, 56 injured and 135 arrested. Watch your backs, WW2 vets.

davidz

I believe that the attack on the Bonus Army wouldn’t happen in the same way today. This is one area where social media and ubiquitous camera phones excel: they make it easy to document what is actually happening, in more or less real time. There would be more effort to keep this from happening.

It’s also much easier to empathize with 80+ year old WW II vets in wheelchairs than 30-something WW I vets.

Then again, Occupy Wall Street was shut down too. But with less violence than I think there would have been 5 years earlier.

I’ve never understood why things like this need to be closed. Same with why do they have to close gates to rest areas when the state government shutdown. I get closing the bathrooms and whatnot, but why you can’t let people get out and walk around escapes me.

MrE85

If you can’t feel the pain, you won’t place the blame. Government shutdowns, like elections, should have consequences.

1. Awesome.
2. Awesome.
3. Would this be received the same way if said vets broke down the doors to the benefits office if the shutdown were to continue for a few weeks? (What about WIC recipients?) Less admiration, I think. Which is a damn shame.

KTN

I don’t believe my mother-in-law, who just took an Honor Flight to Washington, would have been very pleased with the monument being closed for such a simple reason. She most likely would have wheeled herself in regardless of barricades. Good for the Vets.

Minnesota’s Honor Flight is scheduled for this Saturday, October 5th. I hope they don’t face this same problem.

Kate

So, they break the law and ignore barriers, and they are proud of this? And we are supposed to feel proud of them for doing it? Honestly, people will be out PAYCHECKS because of this shutdown; I’d be embarrassed to be complaining because a tourist site is closed.

KTFoley

Nobody’s telling you how to feel, Kate. If you have enough youth, mobility and funds that “come back later” is a viable option, yay for you. Honor Flights serve WWII vets who don’t.

So when people in their 80s and 90s overcome a meaningless barrier in the same spirit in which they overcame meaningful ones in the 1940s, yay for them too. Just to be clear: roping off an outdoor monument is about as meaningless as it gets.

The same could be said for an “either/or” stance on these vets vs. furloughed employees. Empathy is a renewable resource — recognizing one group isn’t going to diminish the other.

KTFoley

And … I’m taking two giant steps back from other details emerging about this story — the congresspeople and the press conference and so on. No approval for posturing.

I admire the passion of the vets but don’t admire the lawmakers who helped remove the barricades. Most all of the pols were the same obstructionists who caused the shutdown — and memorial closure — in the first place. IMHO that makes them worse than hypocrites; they are ego-centric anarchists.

Dave

I’m not buying it. Michele Bachmann and Steve King were there. This whole thing just looks staged. 80-year-olds don’t do anything spontaneous.